Former Cardinals scouting director Chris Correa has been sentenced to 46 months in prison for his role in the illegal breach of the Astros’ proprietary computer network, reports David Barron of the Houston Chronicle. Via the Associated Press and KSDK News, Correa has also been ordered to pay $279K in restitution. Correa had plead guilty to five counts of unauthorized access to a private computer, each of which carried a maximum potential sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports tweets that now that Correa’s sentence has been decided upon, Major League Baseball plans to issue a punishment to the Cardinals organization for the illegal activities. It’s unclear whether that punishment has been decided upon or remains to be determined, however previous indications have been that the league could look to penalize the Cardinals by stripping the team of future draft picks. As has been the case with his rulings regarding the domestic violence policy, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has held off in issuing a punishment until the legal proceedings of the party in question have been completed due to the fact that findings from the criminal investigation could influence his own decision on a punishment.
The New York Times reported last summer that the Cardinals were the subject of a federal investigation in connection with multiple illegal breaches of the Astros’ proprietary computer network, Ground Control. Correa was ultimately fired by the Cardinals in July and was later charged. At the time of his plea, Correa claimed that his to access Ground Control was due to concern that former Cardinals scouting director Jeff Luhnow had taken proprietary information with him upon being hired by the Astros as general manager. Per Barron, the court denied a request that would’ve allowed Correa to subpoena documents from the Astros, who refuted the claim that they had any proprietary information of the Cardinals.
Reports back in January indicated that Correa was able to access the Astros’ rankings of players in the 2013 draft and explore their trade notes on the morning of the July 2013 non-waiver trade deadline. In the year between the illegal access of Ground Control and the initial reports of the federal investigation, a significant portion of the Astros’ trade notes were leaked to the public, bringing a great deal of scrutiny onto Luhnow and the organization.
I’ll be honest, that seems harsh
Ya dude
It does. People who out and out steal money from vulnerable old people don’t get as much jail time. I wonder if they tried to turn him on higher-ups in the Card organization and he refused. Count me as severely doubtful this was all his idea.
How about don’t break the Law, then it would be NO punishment
How about the Cards made him a sea…. Take the rap and your family will be financially set…
Agreed. Way too much.
I’m a Cubs fan and even I agree.
He MIGHT serve a third of that. No way he’s actually locked up for nearly 4 years.
80%. Fed time
He will serve 18 months of it
And the Stanford rapist gets 6 months (serving 3)…. unreal
Exactly
Nope. It isn’t like this clown did it just one time. He hacked into the Astros system repeatedly. Computer crime is a serious matter.
How do you know that the user commenting is the same as the person from the article? Just curious, it seems a bit harsh to put someone on blast like that in the chat section of a baseball rumors website.
He plead guilty. It is harsh, but a standard needs to be set
It’s all about image here.
“Correa has also been $279K in restitution”
Is that sentence grammatically incorrect or am I having a brain fart?
I think this is a bit harsh for what he did, but it’s all about public image. He was a high ranking official in a billion dollar organization, then went and hacked another billion dollar organization.
The brain fart, it seems, was mine. I re-ordered the sentence and left out “ordered to pay.” Fixed. Thanks.
Man, I hate when you order an order and the order is missing when the order arrives and you have to reorder your order all over again so that you receive the order that you ordered……
The criminals running the banking system destroy the global financial markets, put hundreds of thousands of people on the streets, pilfer taxpayers and get nothing.
And a dude suspicious of his dodgy ex-colleague gets 46 months in prison.
#AmericaIsBroken
Hacking into a billion dollar company and using the information to help yourself and your team immensely is not just being suspicious. It is unethical and a felony. He cost the Astros quite a bit but it will be hard to put a number on it. Think about the fact that he could of cost the entire front office of the Astros their jobs? Would that be fair because he is a sneaky hacker who figured out how to get in their system?
He got what he deserved. It is a major black eye on the Cardinal organization and MLB.
#Americaisbrokenbutithasnothingtodowiththis
It was a serious offense, but nothing nearly as drastic as what your saying. The Astros themselves said it didn’t effect anything on their side. It was a crime but there was no actual harm done.
Please tell me where you heard/read the Astros say that?
46 months
How about restitution from the Cardinals to the Astros?
All of the Cards draft picks for the next 5 years sounds about right.
And Alex Reyes.
Lol
Dirty Birds !!!!!!
2 year playoff ban -OR 3 – 1st rd picks
as penalty
They aren’t doing that. They’ll end up losing like a 2nd and 5th round pick in the 2020 draft.
I think you are looking at 2 1st round picks actually with one going to Astros
That is an absolutely ridiculous suggestion for a team punishment. A postseason ban hurts the players and fans who had nothing to do with Correa’s actions. Say what you want, but the charges have only been levied against ONE employee within the organization.
Either you’re incredibly bias against the Cardinals or you’re being sarcastic (I am really hoping it’s the latter).
He has to be trying to be funny. Or , he is an idiot and it could be both.
He gets 46 months in prison and Hillary gets nothing and might even get to be president.
And an oompah loompah who is morally and often financially bankrupt might be president instead.
There is no might about it, the GOP can’t win national elections anymore.
You want cheese with that WHINE???
Let’s stick to baseball,
Sonny.
Sonny, You seem to forget that you are also using a computer Using your kindergarten logic you should go to jail as well since everything involving a computer is now somehow a crime.
Don’t worry though. Obamacare is going to destroy the world very soon so just get ready for the apocalypse. God is coming.
Death penalty: the commish should kill the Cardinals franchise and distribute their assets to every other team with the Astros getting first crack.
I’d like to see the episode of ‘big movers’ when they ship their stadium to Oakland or Tampa.
Whoever doesn’t get the stadium gets the arch
Way way to much jail time
Losing a single first round pick seems appropriate. They should also be required to hire Ozzie Guillen as manager.
Losing a first-round pick would be OK. First-round picks in 2017 and 2018 might be more appropriate. Or lose a 2017 first-round and not be able to sign a free agent who requires compensation.
Cards… Cheaters. Yup
all the proof you need right here to realize the justice system is set up to protect rich people’s money, and not much else.
Yeah he deserved to get something for it, but holy crap that is a nuts sentence because it’s federal and he ain’t gonna skate in 6 months on good behavior.
The time served will be on par with a rape sentence, and I think it’s just messed up that we’re giving out this much prison time for non-violent crimes.
I agree rapists should go to jail for a very long time and eliminating their gender isn’t something I would argue against.
I don’t, however, agree that breaking into someones computer and stealing their information for personal use and to leak to the public is a joke or just boys being boys.
The Tom Brady thing has made people think this is just a game and that if you aren’t cheating you aren’t trying. Computer theft is just as bad as breaking into a building and stealing.
It’s astounding that it takes something like this for people to understand that stealing information via hacking is an actual crime that has an actual punishment.
At first, it seems harsh but it’s the new CFAA law. You can’t compare this to rape or blue collar crime. It’s white collar crime and it’s time someone paid a price for it. A lot of times, it’s swept under the rug. Correa, a high level employee, caused $1.7 millon in damages. $279K probably isn’t an outrageous amount to an exec like this. It’s not just what info he got, but hacking 60 times in 35 days. He used software to mask his presence and location. He could have gotten away with and for years and years if he wasn’t caught. That’s eye-opening and may show teams need better computer security. We know he lied to the FBI. SI has a good article on what Correa did, the info he accessed and discusses the penalties.
I actually can’t believe people on both sides of this. I’ve read Cardinals fans (which I am one), say they shouldn’t be penalized at all. And I’ve seen other fans say they should get their top 3 prospects stripped away from them. Both sides are absolutely too dramatic for reality.
I honestly think it should be a hefty fine and the loss of a 1st round pick in 2017, and a second round pick in 2018. That sends a clear message. Anyone that thinks they should get more than that doesn’t understand how things like this work.
If MLB has no evidence of other executives or Front Office personnel directly communicating or using Correa’s information, than that limits the penalty the Cardinals will receive.
STL didn’t get a team of hackers to break into a competitor’s database. Correa broke in using information that he acquired from working with that database before Lunhow’s departure (Using a password, not a hacking software).
But because he looked at, and leaked, not just old Cardinals info, but new Astros info from the database, that’s why the loss of draft picks is necessary.
You guys that think it is too much jail time need to think about this… The guy was completely unethical in what he did. His team/company benefited quite a bit from his unethical and very illegal shenanigans. The team he did it against suffered. The entire front office could have been canned for something they had zero control of. Would that be fair? Give me a break. He could of cost a lot of professional careers because he was a slime bag. He got what he deserved.
And Manfred out to make the punishment very harsh. It is a major black eye on the Cardinals and MLB. It is worse that the Cardinals have been a very good team during this all which implements them more. If they lost 90 games each of the last 3 years no one would care. However, they have been a playoff team and a WS team and have made some very good draft choices. Question is how much of that was from the collection of data they stole from Houston? It is a very serious situation that I don’t think most fans have any idea as to why….
This is like Spygate but much worse because they/he broke several federal laws to steal the information.
Are you series? You are serious. You do realize that the Cardinals have not won a World Series since this guy broke into a losing organizations file that the Astros themselves admit would not have helped them because the info was outdated and changed daily.
He also hacked into somebody’s email to steal the password to the file that you mentioned. Apparently, he did this again when the password to the file was changed. That’s not really something to be taken lightly.
Anyway, hacking and stealing aren’t less wrong if the information that you stole doesn’t get you the desired result.
If this was Apple vs Microsoft, or similar, nobody would be complaining about the 4 years. But people figure baseball is “just a game,” so who cares right? Never mind all the careers in the game that this sort of hacking could effect.
I don’t think Marvels is debating it was wrong. I think he was pointing out how over dramatic the post before his was.
It is hard to be overdramatic about corporate espionage….
And just because they didn’t WIN a WS doesn’t mean they didn’t go to one or put themselves in better position to go to one yearly in the last 4 years.
Also, the Astros never said it didn’t matter. They are the ones who turned him in at the beginning because they thought “someone” was one step ahead of them the whole time.
>>>”Also, the Astros never said it didn’t matter. ”
What Staypuft is referring to is Luhnow’s comments that the Cardinals wouldn’t have been able to do anything with the info:
“Further, Luhnow added, the idea that one team’s outdated intellectual property would have remained helpful to a rival even in the short term is illogical. “If you were to take a snapshot of the database of one team, within a month it would not be useful anymore, because things change so quickly,” he said. “Not to mention that the types of analysis you would do back in 2011, versus 2012 or ’13 , is evolving so quickly because of new tools like PitchFX and StatCast. I wouldn’t trust another team’s analysis even if I had it..”
si.com/mlb/2015/06/18/jeff-luhnow-cardinals-astros…
But he’s referring to Correa’s accusation that the Astro’s stole St. Louis’s systems and intellectual property in building their scouting system. The only issue with that is that he pretty much also reasoned that any int
…..that any info the Cardinals stole would be been useless after a month.
And it was Marvels1022, not Staypuft.
i forgot the cardinals were so terrible before this. you make it seem like they had winning seasons just because of this info. thats rediculous. theyve been good for awhile and would have without this info. should they be punished, yeah. but to say they were good implements the whole organization is the dumbest thing ive ever heard
This short excerpt from an [article released January 25,2016](bleachernation.com/2016/01/25/convicted-cardinals-…) summarizes what the organization knew:
“‘Who did you tell?’ the judge asked. ‘Colleagues,’ Correa responded. Correa went on to confirm that by ‘colleagues’ he meant people he worked with in the St. Louis Cardinals organization. That seems like a very important revelation, because, if true, Correa just testified that at least some other Cardinals’ employees were ***1) aware of the hack and 2) did nothing to stop, prevent or acknowledge the crime Correa committed.*** In other words, even if Correa did in fact act entirely alone, others in the Cardinals organization knew what he was doing.”
You dirty, dirty birds…
To be fair to the Astros and to ensure the Cardinals learn its lesson, and to send a clear message to other MLB teams, Kenny Williams should now be the Cardinals’ GM from now until the Armageddon.
GREAT idea
Here’s the problem with that view: He told “colleagues”, Not supervisors, not upper management. If he told coworkers, then it’s the same level as what Correa did on his own–being a rogue employee. The organization would be responsible only if management knew what was going on, and that’s what MLB has to determine.
It’s the equivalent of you, as an employee, finding out that another employee is doing something wrong. The organization is not to blame; you are.
Also, we’re taking the word of an employee who was fired by the organization for doing something that, in his view, was the right thing. His word isn’t going to mean much unless he has evidence backing him up (e.g., emails or any other written communication), and that would be among the evidence that the U.S. District Attorney’s Office has, which is why MLB hasn’t even investigated this yet.
If this was Goodell vs the Patriots Brady and Belichick would be summarily executed and ESPN wouldnt be able to talk about anything else. But this guy is literally going to jail and nobody seems to care.
The Cardinals ate now proven CHEATERS. They have players leaving their team to play for less money elsewhere. They are on a downward sprirsl…overdue, and well deserved.
Bahaha. Man, what would we do without Jason Heyward now? Sure too bad he decided to go be the 12th best position player on the Cubs
Come on… Yes Correa is scum, but where else have we cheated that other teams haven’t? When was the last time a player we had used a Corked bat? A pitcher using Pine Tar? Please, write me a list of things so morbidly bad, that no other team does?
The team has veterans who are on their way out, yes. But employ logic, not anger. There is Diaz, Piscotty, Grichuk, Wong and Carpenter that will be an MLB core for a while. Carlos Martinez, Michael Wacha, Alex Reyes and Lance Lynn are a good core to the rotation. Not to mention prospects like Luke Weaver, Jack Flaherty, Magneuris Sierra, Carson Kelly, who aren’t too far away.
Are they the Cubs? No way. But they’ll still be competitive after this season. It just make be a little harder to compete with CHI and PIT.
Nope, can’t tell who’s a biased cubs fan here. Nope, not at all.
The Cardinals are not even close to my favorite team, but I see tons of jealousy here from other fans. Not jealousy over the hacking, but over their success. That’s the only reason most, not all, are jumping on the cheating bandwagon. If it was another team that hasn’t been good in awhile the critique from jealous fans would be far less severe.
Considering that the maximum penalty was 25 years and 1,250,000 dollar fine, I say he got off easy. The important thing to remember is that it does not matter what information he stole from the computer. He broke the law just by accessing their system without authorization.
How many other teams have been doing this?
Probably lots. just none dumb enough to post the info on the Internet.
Not the Cardinal way to have administration of theirs pull this kind of stuff. I hope it’s true nobody else had knowledge.